


When You Assume...

by Saccha



Series: Adrinette April 2018 [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette April 2018, Assumptions, F/M, Humor, Identity Reveal, Idiots in Love, Jealousy, Light Angst, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Adrien Agreste, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Post-Reveal Love Square, Pre-Relationship, Requited Unrequited Love, very light
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-04-25 09:51:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14376279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saccha/pseuds/Saccha
Summary: After Adrien overhears Marinette and Alya talking about a mystery man who has caught Marinette's attention, he is determined to bring Marinette back around to the idea of dating Adrien.A post-reveal, pre-relationship fic full of misunderstandings, wherein people talk but don't communicate.Written for Adrinette April 2018.





	1. You Make an Ass Out of U and Me

**Author's Note:**

> (One guess as to who "Mystery Man" is.)
> 
>  
> 
> This fic is not Glaciator or Dark Owl compliant.
> 
>  
> 
>    
> Adrinette April, Day 1: Hide

 

Adrien groaned in frustration. An akuma just  _ had _ to attack in the middle of a photoshoot. There’s no way his father wasn’t going to hear of this. And now he was trapped at school, on the other side of Paris, with no camembert to recharge with. It’s not like he could say  _ sorry I ran off. I’m secretly Cat Noir and I had to go fight an akuma. You understand, right? _

His father would love that even more than him skipping out on a photoshoot.

The sound of footsteps broke Adrien out of his thoughts. He jumped behind the nearest row of lockers and flattened himself against them, the locks digging into his back. As the footsteps drew closer, he could hear familiar voices.

“So, I haven’t heard about your mystery man recently,” Alya said. “How’s it going with him?”

Marinette sighed.

“Not very well,” she said glumly.

A mystery man? Marinette had a mystery man?  _ What did that even mean? _

“What? Girl, what happened? I thought you were sure he liked you. Did he turn you down?”

Adrien viciously beat his jealousy back. Okay, so another guy had caught his Lady’s attention. Shit.

He hadn’t planned for this. The hope had been to slowly bring her back around to the idea of dating him before confessing his eternal love.

It’s not like he could just stroll up to her and be like ‘Hey, I only rejected you because I didn’t know you were Ladybug. Now that I know you’re a superhero we can totally date.’

Yeah, that didn’t sound shallow at all.

And here he’d thought the reveal would make his life easier.

“No, not exactly.” Marinette sighed again. “He’s in love with someone else. I’m glad I found out before I confessed and embarrassed myself. Again.”

“Hey girl, don’t feel embarrassed by that. Nobody thinks less of you because Adrien turned you down. It takes guts to risk your heart like that. Now... are you ever gonna tell me who this mystery man is?”

“Um! Er! You don’t know him!” Marinette squeaked. “I told you: he goes to another school on the other side of Paris. Even if I told you his name you wouldn’t recognize it. Also, his parents are, like, super controlling. They don’t want him hanging out with anyone, and if it got back to them that he was friends with me he’d get in trouble.”

“If you say so. Do you wanna go get some ice cream and mope about it?”

“Yeah... yeah.”

The footsteps petered out into the distance, and Adrien was left alone in the now quiet hall.

They weren’t together. Adrien still had a chance. Who the hell could fall in love with someone else when they had  _ Marinette _ in front of them? Oh well, mystery man’s loss, Adrien’s gain.

He couldn’t afford to take the passive approach. There were vultures in the wings (he might be mixing up his metaphors there) waiting to swoop in. Adrien had to be proactive if he wanted to win Marinette back.

He was going to  _ woo her. _


	2. Foolproof

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien has an ingenious plan to woo Marinette back. In fact he has a whole list of ingenious plans. There is no way this can end in failure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrinette April 2018, Day 7: Modeling

Adrien put his pencil down next to the sheet of notebook paper with a decisive clack.

There. It was done.

He now had a comprehensive list of the most reliable ways to get a girl to fall in love with you, culled from only the best romance movies and shoujo manga.

He held the list up with the reverence it deserved, regarding it solemnly. Rays of the morning sunlight illuminated the paper like a blessing.

“This is it, Plagg,” he said. “One of these has to work. By the end of the week I’ll have Marinette back in my arms.”

“Whazzat?” Plagg said. He uncurled from where he was napping underneath Adrien’s computer monitor, and looked up with bored eyes.

“A list,” Adrien said, waving the paper at Plagg. “Of plans. Plans to win Marinette over. These  _ always _ work on TV, and even if one doesn’t, I’ve got plenty of backup.”

“Lemme see that.” Plagg floated over and took the list from Adrien. “Hmmm...”

“Well?” Adrien said eagerly. Sure, Plagg never indicated any interest in relationships, declaring his one true love to be cheese, and probably knew 0% about romance, but he had been around for thousands of years (tens of thousands?) so he must have picked up  _ something _ along the way.

“Yup, looks good,” Plagg said with a completely straight face.

Adrien beamed.

 

* * *

 

**Operation: Horror Movie**

 

Last year the class had a movie night in the park.

“We can do anything but horror movies,” Marinette said with a shudder during the planning meeting. “I hate those.”

There had been a few half-hearted protests, but in the end everyone agreed that it probably wasn’t the best idea to screen a gore-fest in the middle of a public park.

At the time Adrien thought nothing of it, besides  _ yeah, that’s probably for the best. _ He didn’t know Marinette was Ladybug, so he wasn’t hoarding every scrap of information he could get about her like it was a precious jewel. 

But, he remembered.

Adrien knew how it went. The boyfriend took his girlfriend to the movie theater, that just so happened to be showing a horror movie. The girl clung to the boy’s arm fearfully at the first tense chord, and hid her face with a shriek when the monster first showed up on the screen. Half the time the girl wound up in the boy’s lap while he petted her and murmured reassuring words. (Or, if he was a callous dickhead, ignoring her and chortling to himself over the special effects. But Adrien wasn’t a callous dickhead, so that wasn’t how it was going to go down.)

Marinette would give one of those cute little squeaks of hers before burying her head in the crook of his neck. Her warm breath would wash over his skin, sending goosebumps down his spine. At the first death she’d crawl into his lap, and he’d whisper sweet nothings into her ear and rub reassuring circles on her arms. 

She’d wiggle closer to him, looking up at him with those blue eyes, her warm body pressed tightly against his— maaaybe it was best to stop that train of thought there before he got carried away.

In any case, it would end with them leaving the movies early to go for a walk in the park. He’d apologize to her, she’d say it was fine, and they’d both eat crepes from a street vendor. Years later after they were married with children, he’d admit that it was all a ploy and they’d laugh about it.

Foolproof.

 

“Hey, Marinette,” Adrien said, shifting from foot to foot. Why was he so nervous? The plan was perfect. “A movie I want to see just came out. Do you want to come with me?”

“Sure,” Marinette said. “Are Alya and Nino coming too?”

“Ah, no, they’re busy that day.” 

Specifically, they were busy attending a concert just outside of Paris. Adrien had given them the tickets.

“Well, I’d love to go with you. What time?”

“Tomorrow at five?”

“Perfect. Meet you there.”

All according to plan.

 

Adrien peeked at Marinette out of the corner of his eye. The slack-jawed, black eyed ghost had just appeared on the screen behind the oblivious protagonist, and Marinette had yet to squeak in fear or hide her face in his jacket.

Instead she sat face forward, unmoving. Her skin was tinged a little green.

Adrien shifted in his seat and ‘accidentally’ bumped his arm against hers in hopes-

“I gotta go to the bathroom,” she said in a rush, and bolted for the exit.

That... was not what he was expecting. It was fine. There was the rest of the movie. He could still make it work.

Twenty minutes later and Marinette still hadn’t returned.

Adrien was starting to squirm in his seat. While horror movies had never been banned in the Agreste household, neither had they been encouraged, and the j-horror films he prefered usually weren’t as gory as this one.

He checked his phone. Marinette hadn’t sent him any messages.

Adrien stood and left the theater. He wandered the halls in search of the women’s restroom. When he found them, he waited for Marinette outside.

After five more minutes and no Marinette, he sent her a text.

_ Are you okay? It’s been a while. I’m waiting for you outside the bathroom. _

The response came back quick.

_ Everything’s fine! I’ll be right out! _

Less than a minute later a sheepish Marinette emerged from the bathroom.

“Sorry about that, Adrien. I, uh, wasn’t feeling well.”

“It’s okay,” Adrien said. It looked like they were skipping forward to the ‘leave early’ portion of the plan. He was flexible. “Would you like to-”

“I’m going to go home. I don’t want to get anyone else sick.” she said, not looking him in the eye.

“Ah... see you tomorrow?” Adrien said helplessly.

Marinette nodded then left in a hurry.

 

**Mission: Failed**

* * *

 

**Operation: Andre’s Ice Cream**

 

Everyone responded enthusiastically to Adrien’s suggestion that they get ice cream from Andre in a sort of group date. He took that as a good sign. Marinette even mentioned that her father had proposed to her mother at Andre’s ice cream stand, and that she had always dreamed of eating some with a lover. Adrien took that as an  _ extra _ good sign.

So, what Adrien was not expecting was her reaction to being served said ice cream.

“Strawberry for the pink of your cheeks, mint for his eyes, and blueberry for yours.”

“Oh, no, Adrien and I aren’t a couple. We’re just friends.” Marinette waved her hands in front of her in denial.

Andre drooped a little.

“But, I can always tell when true love is afoot. And you two, my dear, are meant to be! Have a taste and you will be together forever.”

Adrien internally willed her to take the ice cream.

“Thank you Andre, but no. It’s just ice cream, not magic.”

The ice cream fell to the ground.

 

Cat Noir jumped out of the way of a particularly large ball of blueberry ice cream.

“You couldn’t have just told him we were in love?”

“What? You wanted me to lie?” Ladybug said, dodging her own scoop of ice cream.

Cat Noir gritted his teeth and viciously batted away another ball of frozen dessert with his staff.

“Ah, two superhero lovebirds~ I have the perfect ice cream cone for you.”

“Oh, that’s alright, we’re not-”

_ “We’ll take it,” _ Cat Noir said over Ladybug.

 

**Mission: Failed**

* * *

 

**Operation: Kabe-don**

 

Adrien slammed his hand into the locker next to Marinette with a bang. The girl started and whirled around to face him, wide eyed, windmilling her arms. Alya had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit in the face.

“Adrien! Are you okay? You hit that locker really hard...”

“I’m fine, Princess,” he lied. Damn, he really jarred his arm, and now his shoulder hurt.

“Did you trip?” Marinette said worriedly.

“What? No, I-” He leaned into her space and purred in his most seductive voice, “I was simply overcome by your beauty.”

Marinette blinked owlishly and Alya snickered.

“... Are you sure you’re okay? You’re leaning really heavily. Are you sick?” She brushed her hand across his forehead.

Alya let out a snort of laughter and slapped her hand over her mouth.

“What?” Marinette asked her friend.

“Nothing, nothing. Why don’t you take Adrien to the nurse’s office? I’ll catch up to you later.” Alya winked at Adrien and walked off, her shoulders still shaking with repressed laughter.

“Ooookay. Do you want to go to the nurse, Adrien? You can lean on me if you need to.” Marinette offered her arm to him.

Pretending to be sick so that Marinette would take care of him was not on the list, (a huge oversight now that he was looking back on it) but he could work with it. He took her arm.

“Thank you, my Lady. You are always so good to me.”

 

**Mission: Partial success?**

* * *

 

**Operation: Leather Jacket/Badboy**

 

“Absolutely not,” Nathalie said.

“But- but-”

Adrien wore a jet black biker jacket and torn jeans, a pair of sunglasses perched on his head. He would have grown out a beard and dyed his hair black, but one: he didn’t have time to grow out a beard, and all he was capable of growing right now were a couple of wispy hairs at the corner of his mouth, not exactly macho or sexy; and two: there was not a stylist in Paris who would touch his hair without his father’s explicit permission.

“You are the face of the Gabriel brand. You may only wear pre-approved outfits, and ...this is not one of them. More than your own personal reputation is at stake here.”

“But Marinette-” Oops. He hadn’t meant to say that.

Nathalie’s face softened the tiniest degree, and her lips curled into a hint of a smile.

“I see. If Mlle Dupain-Cheng’s affection is dependent on your fashion choices, then perhaps she is not the best romantic interest. However, I believe that is not the case, and her regard for you will remain unchanged no matter what you wear. Now, go upstairs to change, and be quick about it.”

Adrien stomped all the way back to his room. It wouldn’t have worked anyway. If dressing in leather was all he needed to do, then he would have won Marinette’s heart ages ago as Cat Noir.

 

**Mission: Aborted**

* * *

 

**Operation: Jealousy**

 

This last one  _ had _ to work. It had a 99% success rate in all movies, manga, and tv shows. (Adrien didn’t want to dwell on that 1% chance of failure)

Victoire was beautiful. Of course she was, she was a model. She had round cheeks, long, wavy brown hair, and sky blue eyes. She was also 100% uninterested in Adrien, and the feeling was mutual. In other words, she was perfect for his next plan.

Adrien was chosen to model opposite of her due to their similar age, and how their complementary hair and eye color played off each other.

She would wear jewelry from the Gabriel line aimed at teenage girls while Adrien stared soulfully into her eyes. The implication being that if you wore Gabriel jewelry, a hot boy would somehow spontaneously fall in love with you.

Naturally, Adrien invited Marinette to the shoot.

“Thanks so much for bringing me along,” Marinette said, wiggling with excitement.

It made Adrien want to wiggle a bit too.

“No problem. I figured you might want to see how photoshoots operate, because, you know, you want to go into fashion.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck.

Marinette beamed at him, and he went a little gooey inside. No! He had to stay aloof today, just barely out of reach— a carrot dangled on a string.

Makeup called him away, and Marinette went to sit down on one of the nearby benches. An assistant offered her a water bottle, and she took it with a smile that was sunshine incarnate.

“Face front, Adrien, and stop smiling,” his makeup artist said.

Adrien apologized and sheepishly turned his head to face forward, schooling his features into the sort of neutral, relaxed expression that was ideal for applying makeup. He hadn’t even realized he’d been watching Marinette.

After being poked and prodded by makeup, (and determinedly avoiding looking at Marinette) they sent him to go get poked and prodded by the photographer instead.

“Lean in close to Victoire,” Vincent said. “Stare at her as if you can barely restrain yourself from kissing her. To you, she is irresistible, your eyes gravitate towards her, you cannot look away. Like she is Momma’s spaghetti and you have eaten nothing but microwave meals for weeks.”

Adrien stopped wondering about Vincent’s fixation on food metaphors a long time ago. And he’d never eaten microwave meals in his life, though he could imagine they were pretty unpleasant.

Instead, he tried to imagine that Victoire was Marinette. Before he knew Ladybug’s identity it had been easy. Now that he knew every detail of her face it was almost impossible to project her features onto another. It didn’t help that he was hyper aware of the fact that the actual Marinette was so very close.

Adrien’s eyes wandered to where he had last seen her. She was talking animatedly with one of the interns: a dresser with black hair, the tips dyed green. He was fresh out of lycee, very handsome, and  _ way too old for Marinette. _ Marinette’s face turned pink and she stifled her giggles with her hand. Adrien scowled.

“Adrien! Focus!  _ Victoire _ is the irresistible plate of spaghetti!”

Adrien snapped his eyes back to Victoire’s face. She bit her lip in amusement.

“Distracted?”

“Ah, just a little. Sorry,” he said.

This time he stared just past Victoire’s head and imagined Marinette’s blushing face. It worked, though he was scolded a few times to make it more ‘brooding and seductive’ rather than ‘goofy and smitten.’

After an eternity, the photoshoot director called for a break.

Adrien let out a relieved sigh and wiped his forehead. Standing under the harsh lights was brutal, and his sweat had combined with his makeup to create an unpleasant grainy texture.

He toddled over to Marinette, (standing perfectly still was deceptively demanding, okay?) who was now watching him with an almost wistful expression on her face.

“You look exhausted,” she said, and handed him her half-full water bottle.

Adrien put his lips on the bottle where Marinette’s had been, and drank deeply.

“God, I’m sore. This is worse than when akumas throw me into walls,” he moaned.

Marinette giggled. “My poor kitty. Too bad they don’t let you model in your suit.”

“That would be something.”

Marinette’s eyes slid over to Victoire. The other girl held a fresh water bottle, dripping with condensation, to her forehead. One of the interns held a small battery powered fan up to her face.

“Is that...” Marinette hesitated. “That girl, do you like her?”

This was it. The crucial moment. Adrien had to play this smooth.

“Victoire? Yeah, I like her,” he said casually. “She’s pretty cool. I work with her from time to time.”

There. Perfect. He implied that he had interest in her, but he didn’t commit. If he oversold it then he’d look fickle when he swept a jealous Marinette off her feet and told her ‘no, it’s you I love, my darling,’ and then Marinette wouldn’t believe him.

He surreptitiously studied Marinette out of the corner of his eye.

She frowned down at her hands. For a moment it looked like she might cry and Adrien began to panic.

Then she nodded with determination and looked him in the eye. “I’ll talk to her for you.”

“Wait- no-”

Adrien stretched out a hand to stop her, but it was too late. Marinette was already marching over to the other model.

“Hello. Victoire, isn’t it? I’m Marinette, Adrien’s friend from school.”

Victoire blinked at her, her mouth open in a little ‘o.’

“Um, hi, yes, hello. I’m Victoire.”

Marinette gave her one of her heart-stopping smiles and Victoire turned red.

“Adrien was just telling me about you. You do amazing work.”

“Th-thank you!”

“Oh, this is awkward, but-” Marinette bit her lip and looked to the side. “Can I have your phone number?”

“Yes! Of course!” Victoire said. To the wide-eyed intern she hissed, “Quick, do you have a pen? Paper?”

The intern dug through her pocket and produced a chewed up disposable pen and wrinkled post-it notes.

Victoire wrote a number on the paper, then scribbled it out and started again. “Whoops, sorry, messed it up, haha.”

With a trembling hand she passed it over to Marinette.

“Thanks so much!” Marinette said brightly, then bounced over to Adrien.

Victoire buried her face in her hands and let out a barely audible squeal. The intern patted her comfortingly on the shoulder.

Marinette handed him the note.

“Here you go,” she said with a wink.

Adrien stared hopelessly down at the paper in his hand. How was he supposed to deal with this?

 

**Mission: Failed. Spectacularly.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marinette: Adrien's happiness is the most important thing to me. And, though it pains me, if he loves another girl I will do my best to get them together. For Adrien.  
> Victoire: Sweet mother I cannot weave...
> 
>  
> 
> (My husband came up behind me while I was writing the leather jacket/badboy section and said, completely straight faced, "Maybe he should try wearing a black leather cat suit.")


	3. Two Months Ago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We interrupt your regularly scheduled humor to bring you light heartache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrinette April, Day 6: Admiration
> 
>  
> 
> (remember that this chapter is pre-Glaciator)

Oh.

Oh, no.

That was not a good face. That was not the kind of face you’d want to see on the boy you just confessed your love to. That was the awkward ‘how do I get out of this without hurting anyone’s feelings?’ face.

“I... didn’t realize you felt that way about me. Um, well, you’re super cool, and I like being around you, but-”

“I’m just kidding! April Fools!” Marinette blurted out. Oh god, she couldn’t believe she said that. Who on earth would buy that excuse? Not Adrien, by the expression on his face.

“April Fools was six days ago,” he said.

“That’s why it’s such a good April Fools joke. Nobody expects it on April sixth.”

_ Just shut up Marinette, _ she internally screamed.

“Ahhh...” Adrien had a conflicted look on his face. He clearly didn’t believe her, but he also clearly didn’t want to call her out. “Okay, a joke... That’s, um...”

“It’s not a joke,” Marinette said with a sigh, hiding her red face in her hands. “I was trying to save myself the humiliation, but I just made things worse.”

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Adrien said with that sweet smile she had fallen in love with. “I’m not- It’s not anything to be embarrassed about.”

He laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. “I haven’t even had the courage to tell the girl I’m in love with about my feelings.”

“You’re in love with someone?”

That hurt worse than she thought it would.

Adrien froze, seeming to realize he had accidentally stepped in it.

“Yeah. I love her... I love her a lot. I have since the day I met her.”

Marinette’s mind raced through the girls that could be. The problem was there were just  _ too many _ .

“... Is it Kagami?” she asked.

“What? No. I mean, Kagami is cool and all, but it’s not her.”

“Then who is it?” Marinette cocked her head to the side. Belatedly, she realized that Adrien might not want to let anyone know, especially if he hadn’t told the girl yet.

His eyes widened in panic.

“She’s- she’s a coworker. I don’t think you’ve met her before. I mean, maybe you have? Probably not.”

So a model then. It’s not like Marinette could compete with that. While she  _ was _ a superhero, it wasn’t like she could go around telling people. She doubted Tikki would be okay with ‘I told a cute boy I was Ladybug because I wanted him to like me.’

“She must be great for you to fall in love with her,” she said.

“Great doesn’t even begin to cover it.” Adrien let out a dreamy sigh. “She’s just... amazing. She’s so smart and kind. She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met. She always looks out for others; she just genuinely cares, you know? And when she smiles her face softens and her eyes shine...”

Marinette waited for the hot wave of jealousy to come, but it didn’t. She just felt... sad. A little bitterness sat in the back of her mouth, but overall, she felt drained of all strong emotion.

“You really do love her,” she said.

Adrien snapped out of his distant, starry-eyed gaze, and looked sheepish.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of that to you. I know it must hurt. If she said something like that to me, I don’t know how I’d feel.”

“It’s fine. I can tell she makes you happy. That’s what I want for you before anything else. For you to be happy with someone you love who loves you back.”

Adrien’s eyes widened, and his mouth opened into an ‘o’.

“Marinette, you’re... You know, I really admire you. Like I said, I don’t know how I’d take it if my L- if the girl I loved told me she loved someone else. Most wouldn’t have taken it as well as you have. I hope we can still be friends?”

“I’d love to be friends with you, Adrien.” Marinette gave him a small smile. “Just give me a little time to mope and eat too much chocolate, then we can get through the awkwardness and be friends.”

Adrien laughed. “It’s a deal.”

They said their goodbyes and Marinette left down the school stairs. Her body felt light, as if someone had scooped out her insides and replaced them with air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Humor to resume next chapter.


	4. Goddammit, Tikki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein Marinette is embarrassed and Tikki should watch where she's going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrinette April, Day 17: Bumping into Each Other
> 
> ETA: I am currently working on Ladrien June. I want to do it properly, meaning in order and published on the right day, so it is taking up a lot of my focus. I probably won't update this until the end or near the end of June.

The sound of Marinette repeatedly bashing her head against her locker reverberated through the locker room.

“Marinette, stop that! You’re going to hurt yourself,” Tikki scolded.

“I’m such an idiot,” Marinette moaned. “I made a fool of myself last night in front of Cat Noir. What must think of me?”

“You’re not an idiot, and I’m sure Cat Noir doesn’t think you’re one either.”

  
\-----  


“Amazing as always, my Lady.” Cat Noir smirked, twirling his baton in one hand.

The akuma that night had been tricky. It lasted all through the afternoon and most of the night until Ladybug and Cat Noir had managed to corner it.

Ladybug giggled. Recently, Cat Noir’s compliments affected her more than usual. When she told Alya about this-guy-she-was-friends-with-you-don’t-know-him, Alya had teased her about having a crush. And... she wasn’t wrong.

“You weren’t so bad yourself, Kitten.”

Cat Noir beamed at her, then swept down into a bow. He took her hand in his and kissed the back of it. Ladybug was hyper aware of where his lips had brushed against her knuckles. Her skin broke out in goosebumps, and she shivered. She could feel her face heat, and couldn’t help but wonder what his lips would feel like on her bare skin.

...

_Shit._

“Yes! It was great! I mean, the akuma was great. I MEAN, we were great, not the akuma. The akuma was bad. All akumas are bad. Because they’re akumas.”

“My Lady...?” Cat Noir said.

“Yup, that’s me! My Lady! I mean, lour mady- YOUR LADY.” Ladybug frantically waved her hands in front of her face, just barely managing to not hit herself. (Oh thank god she hadn’t hit herself. This was mortifying enough.)

“... Are you alright?”

“Yeah, of course!” she squeaked. “I’m the alrightiest. Most alright? Hey, did you know that akuma means ‘evil spirit’ in Japanese? Because it does!”

Cat Noir squinted at her, face screwed up in confusion.

“Are you sure-”

“I GOTTA GO BYE.”

Ladybug threw her yo-yo at a nearby building, missed, then tripped over her own feet and landed face first on the concrete.

She popped back up before Cat Noir could say anything.

“You’re totally fine- I’M totally fine. Don’t worry!”

With a stumble and a leap, she bounded off into the night, leaving a bewildered Cat Noir behind her.

  
\-----  


Marinette cringed at the memory.

“No, I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m an idiot.”

And here she had somehow managed to convince him she was cool. Whelp, the truth was out now.

“...He’s probably a little concerned about you, but he doesn’t think you’re an idiot.”

“Yes, he does,” Marinette wailed and went back to banging her head against her locker.

“Stop that!” Tikki grabbed Marinette’s hair and pulled her head back.

Marinette stopped and rubbed at the red spot on her forehead.

“Now tell me what brought this all on?”

“Cat Noir, he’s just so...” Marinette turned bright red and covered her face with her hands.

Tikki gasped. “Marinette! Could it be that you have feelings for Cat Noir?” She sounded delighted.

“I’ve always had feelings for Cat Noir. Just not, you know, _those_ kind of feelings.”

“You mean romantic feelings?”

Marinette squeaked at the word ‘romantic.’ How on earth was she supposed to face this if she couldn’t even say the word ro- _that word._

“This is awful. It’s only been a month since I confessed to Adrien. I’m so fickle.”

“You’re not fickle at all. And you should tell Cat Noir how you feel.” Tikki smiled reassuringly up at her.

“But what if he says he doesn’t feel the same way? What if all of his flirtations were just him teasing me, or he’s just a flirty person in general? Adrien was one thing; I’d be crushed if this ruined our partnership.”

“Oh Marinette.” Tikki patted her arm. “I know it’s scary. It’s scary even when you know for sure that the other person feels the same way. But if you never tell him, you’ll always wonder ‘what if?’ and that will haunt you more than telling him you love him and being rejected.”

Marinette nodded. Tikki always knew just what to say; she was feeling better already. She gathered up her stuff and went to leave.

Just as Marinette opened the door, Tikki zoomed up to face height and opened her mouth to say something that was no doubt both wise and encouraging... and smacked right into Adrien Agreste’s face.

Adrien jerked back a step in surprise. His eyes crossed to focus on the kwami in front of him.

“Um,” Tikki said. “Meow?”

Marinette grabbed Tikki out of the air and clutched her to her chest. Adrien gaped at the two of them, and his eyes bugged.

“It’s a toy,” Marinette said. She had transcended panic and landed right back at calm again. “From Japan. Very advanced. A prototype- it’s not on the market yet. It still has some bugs.”

Adrien raised a trembling hand to point at Tikki. His eyes darted back and forth between Marinette’s face and the kwami.

“The only reason I have have one is because my cousin developed it. She’s Chinese, but she lives in Japan. And a Japanese company is funding it. Sony, I think. So that makes it a Japanese toy. I’d get you one, but there are only a few. So, I doubt I’d be able to. Sorry. But that’s why she was flying, and meowing. Because she’s a toy. An advanced one.”

Okay, maybe she was panicking a little.

“That’s- that’s-” Adrien stammered.

“A toy,” Marinette said firmly.

A small, black head popped out of the inside of Adrien’s jacket.

“Heya, Tikki,” it said.

That was a kwami. Tikki facepalmed.

“You’re Ladybug,” Adrien whimpered. _“Maribug.”_

“Ahhh... Cat Noir?”

He nodded.

She nodded.

They both nodded.

There was a lot of nodding and absolutely no freaking out. They had this.

It was a good thing she never told Cat Noir how she felt. That would have been super embarrassing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't think I'm super on top of it and wrote a new chapter in a day. This was actually the second chapter I wrote, and that's why it's out so fast. We are now officially caught up so it will take longer for the next one.


	5. "Mystery Man"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien wants to know who is the "mystery man" Marinette has a crush on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeyyyy... I know it's been over two months since I updated, but here we are! It was so long I had to go back through some of the previous chapters and I hate doing that. It's always so cringey.

Alya burst into the room; the trapdoor banged on the floor..

“Marinette! You won’t believe it. I got the sponsor. They- What the hell? Is that Cat Noir?”

Cat Noir froze guiltily, even though he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He lay on his back on Marinette’s chaise lounge, his head and shoulders dangling off the edge, a video game magazine in his hand.

“Ow! Crap!” Marinette tugged at the fabric now trapped in the sewing machine. She sighed heavily, then turned around to face Alya with a forced smile. “Hey, Alya. I didn’t realize you were coming over.”

“It was spur of the moment. Why the hell is Cat Noir in your room?” Alya turned to Cat Noir. “Why are you here?”

“Uh,” he said. Marinette shot him her strongest ‘don’t say anything, stupid’ glare. He shut up.

Alya crossed her arms. She looked back and forth between them with an expectant expression.

“The thing is...” Marinette slowly started. “The thing is that sometimes people come over to my house. And sometimes those people are Cat Noir.”

“Uh-huh,” Alya said.

“You know, for superhero business. Because he’s a superhero. And he wouldn’t come over to just hang out because that’s not professional.”

Alya glanced at Cat Noir, still frozen and wide-eyed on the chaise. Specifically she glanced a the magazine he was holding, which featured a (quite gorgeous, in Cat Noir’s opinion) watercolor of Link from the Legend of Zelda. Her lips twitched with a suppressed smirk.

“Now it may _look_ like that’s what’s happening here,” Marinette said quickly, having caught the look on Alya’s face. “But sometimes looks can be deceiving. Like when... things don’t look the way they are.”

Alya nodded with mock seriousness. “Okay, sure, I believe you. So what’s the important superhero business, Cat Boy?”

Cat Noir gulped. His eyes darted towards Marinette.

“Would you believe there’s an akuma?” she said weakly.

“No.”

Marinette slapped her hands over her face. “Ugh! Okay, you got me. Sometimes Cat Noir comes over, I give him food, we play video games, and we hang out. You know, to thank him for saving Paris.”

“Marinette’s sweets are delicious,” Cat Noir piped up.

Marinette looked like she wanted to strangle him, and Alya’s face lit up with an unholy glee.

“I’m sure you like to eat Marinette’s sweets,” she said.

Cat Noir let himself slide off of the chaise and onto the floor in an embarrassed heap. He covered his red face with the magazine.

Marinette groaned. “Really, Alya. He comes over and eats macarons and lounges around.”

“And ‘macarons’ are a euphemism for...?”

“For actual, literal macarons. Made out of almond flour and everything.”

Alya moved closer to her and whispered in her ear, “Is he your mystery man? Is that why you couldn’t tell me anything about him?”

If Cat Noir didn’t have super hearing he wouldn’t have been able to hear what she said. But he did, and he could. Marinette’s panicked eyes darted towards him. She knew he could hear them.

“Not right now,” she hissed back, “and you can’t tell anybody he comes over.”

Alya sighed.

“All right. I won’t say anything,” she said at a normal volume.

“Thank you.”

“On the condition that I get an interview.”

Marinette squawked. “Alya! No!”

“What? You’re asking me to sit on the juiciest piece of gossip I’ve come across without giving me anything in return?”

Cat Noir slid the magazine off his face and looked at Marinette. She looked back helplessly.

“It’s okay with me,” he said.

“... Fine. As long as it’s not in my room.”

Alya squealed with joy.

 

* * *

 

 _“Is he your mystery man?”_ Alya had said. ‘He’ being Cat Noir. Adrien.

Her words had been whirling in Adrien’s head all last night into this morning. Was she right? Was _he_ ‘mystery man’?

With Marinette sitting across from him, the two of them alone in the private library room, he couldn’t think of anything else.

A part of him couldn’t believe it was true. It was too good to be true. The other part of him yearned for it to be true, hope threatening to bubble over. Had Marinette fallen in love with him, then got over him, only to fall in love with him again? If he was right, that meant that she wasn’t in love with anyone else. It meant she was in love with him. _If_ he was right.

Adrien huffed. He wanted to confront her and demand to know, but he was still scared. If he was wrong he could ruin things between them.

He glanced over to her as discreetly as he could, which wasn’t very discreetly. She frowned down at her tablet, chewing on the end of her stylus. It was unbearably cute.

 _Are you in love with me?_ He itched to ask. _Please be in love with me._

Marinette sighed and rubbed her temples. “Ugh, I can’t concentrate. I’m going to get some coffee. Do you want anything?”

Adrien shook his head. “No, thank you.”

Tikki’s head popped up out of Marinette’s purse. “I’d like a cookie please. Chocolate chip,” she said then disappeared back into the purse

Marinette nodded and left the room muttering something derogatory about determiners and the syntactic definition of nouns.

Adrien eyed the closed door warily. “Tikki,” he whispered, “I need to ask you something.”

“Hm?” Tikki popped her head out of the purse again.

“It’s about Marinette. It’s- a couple weeks ago I overheard her talking to Alya about a guy she has a crush on.”

Tikki narrowed her eyes and slowly floated up the rest of the way out of the purse. “Adrien, were you spying on Marinette?”

“What? No! It was an accident. I was at school and they walked by and I overheard. I swear I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Tikki nodded slowly. “Okay.”

“I was wondering if- if it’s possible that- that is, could this guy be-” Adrien sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, do you know who he is?”

Tikki sighed. “Oh Adrien. I can’t tell you that. You want it to be you, don’t you?”

Adrien ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck. Was he that obvious?

“I can’t tell you either way. That would be a betrayal of trust.”

“But, it would be so much easier. I wouldn’t have to worry about ruining our friendship.”

“I can’t, Adrien. She told me in confidence. You wouldn’t like it if I told her about your feelings without your permission, would you?”

“... No.”

“Just ask her. It won’t ruin your friendship, I promise. The two of you are stronger than that.”

Adrien nodded, but the very idea twisted his stomach into knots.

 

* * *

 

Alya clicked her tongue. “Girl’s late _again_. Really, I should expect it by now.”

“I hope she hurries,” Nino said. “I want to ride the new roller coaster and those lines are crazy long. Being late to school I understand, but how can you be late to _having fun?”_

Adrien hummed absently and shifted from foot to foot. When he overheard Alya and Marinette talking about mystery man all those weeks ago, it sounded like the two of them had talked about him before. What did Alya know?

“Hey, Alya?” he said. “A while back I heard you and Marinette talking about a guy that Marinette was interested in. Her ‘mystery man.’ Could you- uh- could you tell me a little about him?”

Alya quirked an eyebrow.

“Wait, what, who?” Nino said, looking wide eyed between them. “Marinette has a crush?”

Alya ignored him. “Why do you want to know?”

Adrien flushed. Somehow he hadn’t anticipated that question. “I just... Marinette’s my friend. I want to know about what’s going on in her life, you know?”

“Sure,” she said.

“No, seriously,” Nino insisted. “Marinette has a crush on someone? Why am I always the last person to know this stuff?”

Alya turned to him. “Do you really want to know all about Marinette’s love life?”

Nino blinked, nonplussed. “I guess not.”

She turned back to Adrien. “So. ‘Mystery man.’ Yeah, Marinette’s got one.”

There was a long pause, and Adrien realized she wasn’t going elaborate.

“Have you met him?”

“Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t,” Alya said. “Marinette’s not really forthcoming with the details. I don’t even know his name, though I have my suspects.”

“Who?”

Alya hummed, but anything she might have said was cut off by Marinette’s abrupt arrival.

“Sorry! Sorry I’m so late. I got caught up with a sewing project and lost track of time.” Marinette leaned over, panting, her hands braced on her knees. Her face flushed a pretty pink.

“It’s fine. It was only twenty minutes. In the heat.”

“I said I was sorry.”

“C’mon,” Nino said, “I wanna ride Ultimate Dragon Roar and the line is an hour long. Let’s go.”

Nino grabbed Alya’s hand and raced off to the ride. Adrien and Marinette followed behind them at a more sedate pace. _Now. Ask her now._

“Um. Marinette?”

“Yeah?” she said absently, looking around at all the attractions.

“Last night... in your room... Alya mentioned a ‘mystery man.’”

Marinette froze.

“Oh, uh, right! She did,” Marinette squeaked.

“Is he-”

“He’s a man. A man who’s mysterious. Yup. Lots of mysterious men out there. It doesn’t mean anything.” She laughed nervously.

Adrien opened his mouth to say more, but Marinette cut him off.

“We better catch up to Alya and Nino. Gotta get a good spot in the line!”

She grabbed his hand and dragged him toward their two friends, who were waiting impatiently at the entrance of the ride.

Marinette apologized when they caught up, but she didn’t let go of Adrien’s hand. He stared down at their joined hands, and tried not to hope.

**Author's Note:**

> Come bother me on [tumblr.](https://sacchariwrites.tumblr.com/)


End file.
